Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) The Attorney - General may, in writing, certify that any of the following disclosures would be contrary to the public interest on one or more of the grounds set out in subsection (3):
(a) disclosure of information that is about a matter specified in the certificate;
(b) disclosure of the contents of a document specified in the certificate;
(c) the giving of information, or the production of documents, to the Committee in relation to a matter specified in the certificate.
(2) The Attorney - General must be satisfied on reasonable grounds that the certificate is appropriate and necessary to protect the public interest.
(3) The grounds are that the disclosure would:
(a) prejudice the security, defence or international relations of Australia; or
(b) involve the disclosure of communications between a Minister and a Minister of a State or Territory, or between a Minister of a State or Territory and a Minister of another State or Territory, and would prejudice:
(i) relations between the Commonwealth Government and the Government of a State or Territory; or
(ii) relations between the Government of a State or Territory and the Government of another State or Territory; or
(c) involve the disclosure of deliberations or decisions of the Cabinet or of any committee of the Cabinet; or
(d) reveal, or enable a person to ascertain, the existence or identity of a confidential source of information in relation to:
(i) the enforcement of the criminal law of the Commonwealth, a State or Territory or a foreign country; or
(ii) a corruption investigation; or
(iii) a NACC corruption investigation; or
(iv) a NACC complaint investigation; or
(v) a public inquiry; or
(e) reveal, or enable a person to ascertain, the identity of a person who is, or has been, a staff member of:
(i) the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation; or
(ii) the Australian Secret Intelligence Service; or
(f) reveal, or enable a person to ascertain, the identity of a person who is, or has been, an agent of:
(i) the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation; or
(ii) the Australian Secret Intelligence Service; or
(iii) the Australian Geospatial - Intelligence Organisation; or
(iv) the Australian Signals Directorate; or
(g) reveal information:
(i) about the capabilities of, or information sources or operational activities or methods available to, a law enforcement agency, intelligence agency or the Australian Defence Force; or
(ii) about particular operations that have been, are being or are proposed to be undertaken by a law enforcement agency, intelligence agency or the Australian Defence Force, or about proceedings relating to those operations; or
(iii) provided by, or on behalf of, the government of a foreign country, an authority of the government of a foreign country or an international organisation, where that government or organisation does not consent to the public disclosure of the information; or
(h) prejudice the proper performance of the functions of the IGIS; or
(i) endanger a person's life or physical safety; or
(j) prejudice the protection of public safety; or
(k) prejudice the fair trial of any person or the impartial adjudication of a matter; or
(l) prejudice the proper enforcement of the law (including through corruption investigations, NACC corruption investigations or NACC complaint investigations).
(4) To avoid doubt, causing no more than embarrassment or prejudice to a person's reputation is not a ground covered by subsection (3).
(5) The certificate must specify the kind of disclosure that would be contrary to the public interest.
(6) Without limiting subsection (5), the kind of disclosure that may be specified in the certificate includes:
(a) disclosure generally; or
(b) disclosure to a specified person or group of persons; or
(c) disclosure otherwise than to a specified person or group of persons.
(7) Without limiting subsection (1), a certificate under that subsection may provide that the disclosure of information about the existence or non - existence of:
(a) information about a specified matter; or
(b) a document or thing;
would be contrary to the public interest because it would:
(c) prejudice the security, defence or international relations of Australia; or
(d) prejudice the proper performance of the functions of the IGIS.
(8) The Attorney - General must give a copy of the certificate to:
(a) the Commissioner; and
(b) the Inspector; and
(c) the following:
(i) if the information or the document referred to in subsection (1) is in the possession of a Commonwealth agency--the head of the agency;
(ii) if the information or the document referred to in subsection (1) is in the possession of a person--the person.
(9) A disclosure contravenes a certificate issued under this section if the disclosure would be contrary to the public interest according to the terms of the certificate.
(10) A certificate made under subsection (1) is not a legislative instrument.